Now that we went through the most troubling issues around blogging and we discussed the technical side of setting one up, it’s high time we talk about some important decisions related to starting a blog.
I wish I’d thought about all that when I first established my blog – having all the answers back then would have saved me time and energy. This is why I do encourage you to look at these aspects now, if you’re thinking about setting a blog sometime soon.
Professional or hobby blogging?
The first question that you have to tackle is whether you want to engage in hobby blogging, or are you doing it for professional purposes. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with hobby blogging, i.e. writing what you like, when you like, on whichever topics. However, this type of blogging is unlikely to work for your professional image or marketing efforts.
If you decide, however, to start blogging for professional purposes, it’s important that you see your blog as a part of your marketing, business and brand strategy. You’ll need to have a plan, a calendar and some commitment to work on it.
What do you want to achieve with your blog?
Every business-related effort should have a goal, in other words it should lead to achieving something for your business. I talked about the benefits of blogging in one of my previous posts, and any of these potential benefits could be your goals.
Be careful, though. Depending on your blog’s goal, its audience will change, too, as well as the range of topics you’re covering. You could be blogging to market your services, to showcase your skills, to help others, etc. All these goals are of course great.
Who is your target audience?
Depending on your blogging goal, your audience will change. The majority of translation blogs are written by translators for translators. And while there’s nothing wrong in helping others or sharing your insights, you will find that such a blog is unlikely to attract potential clients. They’re not interested in the ins and outs of the translation industry, and definitely don’t want to hear that rates are falling and agencies don’t pay (and we really shouldn’t be saying things like that too loud, either).
If you want to market your services through your blog, blog for your potential clients. This is by far the most common trap that many bloggers fall into. We feel naturally inclined to write about what we know and feel comfortable with (i.e. translation), but this kind of blog will attract more colleagues, not clients.
What you’re going to write about?
Of course, if you’re blogging for translators, it will be much easier for you to come up with ideas for posts. We all have interesting insights or different angles that we could turn into a blog. That’s exactly what I did.
However, when comes to blogging for your (potential) clients, discovering what interests them should be your first step. Our prospects are generally unlikely to be interested in the issues of translation, so we should rather concentrate on what translation may give them (i.e. the markets they can access) or on a wider business context they exist in. My new client-focused blog is all about doing business in Poland and doesn’t sell my translation services directly.
Finding out what to write will involve some market research and stepping into your clients’ shoes.
What’s your editorial calendar?
An inherent part of blogging for professional purposes is taking your blog seriously and managing it as any other marketing collateral. Once you figure out what interests your potential readers, write the ideas down and put some dates against them. You should blog regularly, on the same day if you can.
Where to host your blog?
I do recommend that you host your blog on your website. It’s not too difficult with CMS like WordPress and there are many benefits, including increased SEO and control over the way your blog looks like.
However, if you don’t have a website yet, you may decide to start blogging on an external platform. This solution is not ideal, especially if your blogging goal is to market your services, but it’s a good starting point.
How you’re going to let the target audience know?
Once you’ve got all the previous points established, you have to get a promotional plan for your blog. Think about all these places (offline and online) where your potential readers hang out and try to promote your blog there. Of course, we’re not talking about spamming, but about finding people who’re genuinely interested in your writing.
Think about getting mini business cards advertising your blog you could give out to potential clients at networking events, or which fora or LinkedIn groups you could mention your new blog in. Social media is also a powerful tool to spread the word.
Marta Stelmaszak
Marta Stelmaszak is a translator between Polish and English, combining language skills with a thorough understanding of economics and business to help SMEs make as big an international impact as possible, providing translation and interpreting services for the legal, business and marketing sectors. Read Marta's book on business.
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